by Gill Pringle in Las Vegas
Some of Australia’s brightest talent was on display at this year’s CinemaCon, showcasing films starring Margot Robbie, Chris Hemsworth, Isla Fisher, Hugh Jackman and Damon Herriman.
During Amazon/MGM studios’ presentation, Jackman shepherded in a teaser from his hilarious looking new live action film, Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective.
Here, we find him playing flat-capped George Hardy, a shepherd who loves his sheep and raises them only for their wool. Every night, he reads aloud a murder mystery, pretending that his sheep can understand but never suspecting that not only can they understand, but that they also argue for hours afterward about whodunit.
“The movie is a bit of a whodunit, which is always fun. The movie has such heart,” said Jackman who co-stars with Emma Thompson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Chris O’Dowd, Regina Hall, Patrick Stewart, Nicholas Galitzine, Bella Ramsay, Hong Chau and Succession’s Nicholas Braun.
When George is found dead under mysterious circumstances, the sheep realise at once that it was a murder and think that they know everything about how to go about solving it.
Based on Leonie Swann’s 2005 novel Three Bags Full, the film is helmed by blockbuster animation director Kyle Balda (Minions, Despicable Me 3) from a screenplay by The Last of Us’ Craig Mazin.
Amazon clearly loves Australian talent, with Chris Hemsworth later joining Halle Berry to debut their heist thriller Crime 101.
The film’s title is in homage to Los Angeles’ infamous 101 Freeway which bisects the city, a frustratingly busy stretch of road which doubtless Hemsworth travelled along during his years in the city.
Director Bart Layton pointed out that the 101 Freeway will play a key role in the plot, saying that he hoped “to capture L.A. in a way you might not have seen on film before.”
For his part, Hemsworth praised the “uniquely mesmerising film, the kind that draws you into its world and keeps you in suspense to the last possible second.”
The trailer opens with Hemsworth’s character being asked what motivates him. “What motivates me? Well, money, I guess,” he replies bluntly.
Rounding out the packed cast are Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, Monica Barbaro, Tate Donovan, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Nick Nolte.
Published in 2021, Don Winslow’s novella Crime 101 centered on detective Lou Lubesnick as he attempts to solve a string of jewel heists by tracking the perpetrator who follows a strict set of rules known as “Crime 101”.
In this iteration, it appears that Ruffalo is playing the detective attempting to track down the perpetrators of a string of jewellery heists.
Earlier in the week, Margot Robbie’s new film A Big Bold Beautiful Journey was unveiled.
Two years after turning Barbie into a cultural phenomenon and box office darling, the film will mark Robbie’s return to the big screen.
From After Yang director Kogonada, the intriguing fantasy romance about two strangers and the extraordinary emotional journey that connects them, received its first trailer during Sony’s CinemaCon presentation.
Here we saw Colin Farrell’s David driving in his car when he receives a surprise question from his GPS: “Would you like to go on a big bold, beautiful journey?”
He says yes and is directed by the GPS to Robbie’s Sarah, whom he met at a wedding earlier. Together, the two drive to a forest where they see a mysterious door and step through it.
On the other side, they are transported into David’s high school memories, setting them on a journey through both of their most cherished and most painful life moments, bringing them together in a way they could have never imagined.
Co-starring Lily Rabe, Jodie Turner-Smith and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is set for release in September.
The following day – at the Lionsgate presentation – audiences were treated to a sneak peek of Isla Fisher making her welcome return to illusionist crime thriller Now You See Me 3 – its title unveiled as Now You See Me: Now You Don’t.
The third installment sees Fisher reunited with Woody Harrelson, Morgan Freeman, Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo and Dave Franco.
But don’t get too comfy since our favourite thieving magicians – known as The Four Horsemen – disband in the early moments of the film, as Eisenberg’s J Daniel Atlas tells a new generation of crooked magicians that his former comrades are dead. “To me,” he clarifies. “Things got too real for them. They gave up stuff.”
Enter the new kids in magictown played by Ariana Greenblatt, Justice Smith and Dominic Sessa.
Joined by Rosamund Pike, the threequel picks up with a diamond heist involving the two generations of illusionists — the Horsemen seemingly coming out of retirement to join the newcomers in taking down dangerous crims.
Louis Leterrier directed the original 2012 film with Jon M Chu stepping in for the second movie and now Zombieland’s Ruben Fleischer is confirmed for not only the upcoming third film but also a fourth.
Meanwhile from Neon, we saw a new clip of Damon Herriman playing couples counsellor to Dave Franco and Alison Brie’s husband and wife whose marriage has hit a sticky spot in upcoming horror sci-fi Together, shot in Victoria.
Instead of celebrating romance, director/writer Michael Shanks introduces audiences to the dangers of complacency and codependency in his unique flick starring this real-life Hollywood couple.
As their therapist, Herriman tries to make sense of Millie and Tim’s shifting notion of ‘til death do us part’, their move to the countryside triggering a supernatural incident that drastically alters their relationship, existence and physical form.
An allegory on codependency, this brilliantly twisted body horror flick sees their lives unravel as they start sticking together – first lips, but then other body parts including a stomach-churning eyeball scene.
Elsewhere, Taika Waititi was announced to direct Klara and the Sun, a sci-fi drama about a robot girl – designed to prevent loneliness – who attempts to save a heartbroken family of humans. Based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, the film stars Jenna Ortega, Amy Adams and Natasha Lyonne alongside Simon Baker.
And while it is little surprise to Mortal Kombat fans who were aware of the sequel being shot in Australia between 2023-2024, then the announcement of Mortal Kombat 2 received enthusiastic applause at CinemaCon’s annual gathering of cinema owners.
A sizzle reel teased the video game adaptation’s key characters, including Karl Urban’s return as shades-wearing Johnny Cage. “I am Johnny fucking Cage,” Urban growled in the clip. “It’s showtime.”
New Line Cinema President Richard Brener teased that audiences should “expect amazing fights, epic battles and a few fatalities.”
This time, Tati Gabrielle joins the franchise as Jade and Adeline Rudolph as Kitana. Returning stars include Ludi Lin (Liu Kang), Mehcad Brooks as Jax, Lewis Tan as Cole Young, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion, Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden and Joe Taslim as Sub-Zero.
The sequel centres on the group of ragtag fighters who must defend Earth from the evil forces of Outworld. The new film is co-produced by Atomic Monster’s James Wan and Michael Clear.
Later, James Wan would make a personal appearance during the Universal presentation, joining his BlumHouse “partner in terror” Jason Blum to tease their upcoming M3GAN 2.0 sequel alongside a sexy trainer for their highly anticipated Soulm8te which seems to take place in the same universe.
It was a hard act to follow after 30 Megan lookalike dancers had performed a wacky Megan routine in honour of the sequel with the tagline Megan Vs That Bitch, which will debut an even more evil version of Megan.
“We share a demented sensibility,” boasted Blum in reference to Wan.
The January release of Soulm8te will introduce audiences to the robotic girlfriend from hell, “Sara” with the catchline, “you can’t turn off obsession”.
Directed by Kate Dolan, the sci-fi thriller sees a heartbroken man resorting to a beautiful AI android model to cope with the loss of his recently deceased wife. In an attempt to create a truly sentient partner, he inadvertently turns a harmless lovebot into a deadly soulmate.
CinemaCon, the annual gathering of cinema owners and Hollywood studios, is hosted in Las Vegas by the newly rebranded Cinema United, which for decades was known as the National Association of Theatre Owners.
Main Image: Chris Hemsworth speaks onstage during CinemaCon 2025 – Amazon MGM Studios Invites you to an Exclusive Presentation of its Upcoming Slate at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace during CinemaCon, the official convention of Cinema United, on April 2, 2025, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for CinemaCon)
